Comedy of Errors
by sunlit5
Summary: DawnFred friendship SPOILERS for the first few episodes of Angel season 5


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Title: A Comedy of Errors  
Written for the Dawnfic 2003  
For: Glassslipper  
Beta'd: Circe Tigana  
Spoilers: first couple eppes of Season 5 Angel  
COC: Dawn/Fred (friendship) others make appearances  
Rated: PG  
Copyright of characters: Joss and co.  
Disclaimer: Joss yada yada  
Feedback- yes please. Email  
Want to post this somewhere? Ask me. Thanks.  
Author: sunlit5 

**A Comedy of Errors**

A pretty brunette is arguing with security and a secretary. "Look, I need to see Angel!"  
  
They tell her he is busy all day.  
  
"I'm family!"  
  
"That's not possible, vampires cannot enter here undetected."  
  
"I am not a vampire. I'm family! Get Angel. I've been on a plane for eleven hours!"  
  
Fred is walking by when she notices the exchange. The young woman seems... familiar. She walks over, "Can I help you?"  
  
"Do you know where Angel is?"  
  
Fred looks at her, "Do I know you?"  
  
"I don't think so. Can you take me to Angel? It's important."  
  
Realization hits Fred, "Dawn? Are you Dawn?"  
  
Dawn grabs Fred's hands. "Yes! Yes! Will you take me to Angel?"  
  
Fred walks with her down the hall, telling her she recognized her from a picture Angel has. Dawn tells her it's really important that she sees him. _The most important ... how am I going to tell him? And convince him to help me?_  
  
"It's ok, I have a hard time getting people to listen to me sometimes, too." Fred flashes a weak smile in Dawn's direction. "Must be something about being surrounded by a bunch of testosterone filled men and me being the only girl."   
  
Angel sees Dawn. "Dawn?" He walks over to her. "Is Buffy ok?"  
  
"I... I uh, really need to talk to you."  
  
"Is Buffy ok?" Angel asks more insistently.  
  
"Yes. She's fine. Please Angel. It's important."   
  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Angel ushers her into his office. He sits on his desk, and she takes a seat in the chair in front of it.   
  
"This is a nice place, Angel."   
  
Angel looks at her. "Spill it."   
  
Dawn starts to cry. _This is so hard._   
  
Angel goes down on his knees in front of her. _We've spoken on the phone numerous times over the past three months, we're friends, she should be able to tell me anything._ "Tell me Dawn. It's ok."   
  
"I'm pregnant."   
  
Angel's mouth hangs open in shock. "Dawn."   
  
"It gets worse."   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Fred is working in her lab when Spike walks in. "Hey there, pet, how goes the work?"   
  
Fred looks up. "Hi. I ... _didn't hear you ..._ you're very stealthy."   
  
Spike smiles. "You hear more secrets that way. So I hear Angel has a woman in his office, he's all holed up. Know anything about that?" He goes to light a cigarette.   
  
Fred knocks the cigarette from his hands, "Are you insane!?"   
  
Spike smiles sheepishly. "Sorry. Don't want to blow our pretty heads off, now do we?" He sits on the edge of her desk, "So ... who's the woman? He get lucky or something?"   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Angel wonders how it could possibly get worse. Dawn - Buffy's little sister, is pregnant and at his doorstep. "Uh, how could it get worse?"   
  
"When Sunnydale went under, a lot of things happened." _Yeah, understatement of the year; Spike's gone, Buffy cried over him for months, Anya died, Xander ... Xander ..._ Dawn starts crying again.   
  
"Come on, Dawn. Girls have been getting knocked up for centuries. It's not that big a deal."   
  
Dawn looks up at him through tearful eyes. "It is when you're pregnant by your sister's husband."   
  
Angel is shocked for the second time that day.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
"Dawnnie's here! Did ... did she bring Buffy? Is Buffy here?" Spike asks hopefully.  
  
Fred tells him that she only saw Dawn and that she was upset about something.   
  
Spike tells Fred he has to go. _Niblet's here._ Hadn't seen a spark of Sunnydale since he got back. Hasn't talked to any of them. He needs to see her, hold her, smell her, never let her go. _Then_ question her about Buffy.   
  
"I'll go with you, Spike. Just let me ... Spike, wait!" Fred shucks off her lab coat and follows him down to Angel's office.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
"Buffy's married?" Angel paces.   
  
"Angel, focus." Dawn gets up and goes to him. "I can explain about that, but ... please, will you help me?"   
  
Spike walks in. "Help with what, luv?"  
  
Dawn spins around. "Spike! Oh my God."   
  
"Hey Dawnnie, miss me?"  
  
Dawn faints.  
  
Angel catches her.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Spike glares at Angel. "You didn't tell them!"  
  
Angel shuffles from one foot to the other.   
  
Fred says Dawn can stay at her apartment.   
  
Angel ignores Spike and carries Dawn to Fred's. Her bedroom is ballerina pink, with teddy bears on the bed, stacks of books everywhere, and a computer in the corner.   
  
Looking up at Angel, Dawn says, "He's here?" _How, how is that possible? How could he not have told us! Oh God! Buffy ... Xander ... me!_   
  
Angel asks Fred to explain it and he leaves to deal with Spike.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
"Fred? Fred? Please tell me what's going on."  
  
"Where do I begin?"  
  
"When he came back ... start then."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
  
When Angel walks back in his office Spike slugs him. "You didn't tell them!"  
  
"We didn't know if you were good."  
  
"Have to do better than that."  
  
Angel looks at him. "You think this about Buffy, but it isn't. We didn't know if we would have to kill you again, so we didn't tell them."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
_All this time. All this time he's been back. Buffy never would have married had she known! Never._  
  
Fred watches the emotions play over Dawn's face. Shock, anger, astonishment, and something else ... pain maybe?  
  
"Are you all right?"  
  
Dawn laughs. "No. No, I'm really not."  
  
Fred reaches over and takes Dawn's hand. "Can I help?"  
  
_Maybe it would help to have a fresh perspective. It would be nice to have another woman to confide in. Especially since Angel has turned out to be a liar. The big creep, damn asshole jerk - the one who ruined it all by not telling the truth._  
  
"I'm pregnant."  
  
Fred squeezes her hand. "It's ok."  
  
Dawn gives a small smile. "When we left the States and headed to Europe, things ... they were so different. Buffy was so quiet, she just locked herself away in her room. Willow was always with Kennedy, and when she wasn't, she was practicing spells and such with some group Giles knows. That left me alone. Ok, not so alone. Xander was there." Dawn smiles. "My big brother, my protector, my everything - that's who he came to be."  
  
"Is he the father?" Fred asks.   
  
Dawn nods. "We were together so often, it just sort of happened. Ok, it happened a few times ..."  
  
"Sometimes grief brings people together."   
  
"How true." Dawn agrees. "And things might have gone on like that if that letter from the lawyer hadn't come."  
  
"Lawyer?"  
  
"Turns out that Anya had a lot of money. A lot. And she left it all to Xander which, of course, made him feel guilty as sin for being with me, so we called it off. By the time I found out I was pregnant he and Buffy had worked it out that if they got married and anything ever happened to him, she would have enough money to take care of us all."  
  
Fred hugs the now sobbing Dawn.  
  
"They got married three days ago."  
  
"And she doesn't know?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Does he know? About the baby?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Would it have made a difference?"  
  
"He ... I ... I think so. But he felt so bad about Anya, I wasn't about to force him into anything."  
  
Fred pulls back and looks at her. "You have to tell him."  
  
"But ... Buffy."  
  
"Does she love him?"  
  
Dawn remembers the day Buffy told her she was marrying Xander. _"I love him, Dawn, but like a brother. He knows this, but we're going to try. I'm tired of being lonely and he's a good man. I'm doing this for us."_  
  
Fred waits for Dawn's answer. "Well?"  
  
"She's determined to make it a true marriage."  
  
"But you love him, don't you, honey?" Fred asks.  
  
"God, yes. He's smart and funny and ... and ... he's such a good man."  
  
"All right then, we'll work this out. Do you want me to get a room cleared for you, or do you want to stay here with me?"  
  
"Do you all have apartments here at the offices?" asks Dawn.  
  
"It makes things easier. We're here all the time anyway."  
  
"Oh. Well if you don't mind, I'd like to stay here with you. Being alone, I think too much."  
  
Fred laughs softly and then explains about her time in Pylea.  
  
"You were there all that time alone?" asks Dawn.  
  
"Yes, until Angel saved me."  
  
Dawn makes a face at the mention of Angel's name.  
  
"I'm sure he had his reasons, Dawn."  
  
"He ruined it for everyone! Just because he's jealous over Spike."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
  
"You think that's what this is, jealousy? Come on, Spike, get over yourself!"  
  
"No! You get over yourself! You can't stand the fact that if she knew I was here she'd come for me."  
  
Angel throws him across the room.  
  
Spike smirks. "Not what I meant, but that too."   
  
"Get out of my office!"  
  
"Fine, tell me where Buffy is."  
  
"No."  
  
"Then tell me what's going on with Dawn!"  
  
"No."  
  
"You're an ass. You know that?"  
  
"So I've been told."  
  
Spike crosses the room. "I happen to care about Dawn quite a lot. So tell me what's going on!"  
  
Angel ignores him.  
  
Spike looks up into Angel's eyes. "Please, Angel? Is she ok?"  
  
"I hate when you do that."  
  
Spike bats his lashes prettily. "Do what?"  
  
Angel laughs. "She's in Fred's apartment."  
  
Spike's coat swirls around him as he leaves.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
  
"You should call him, Dawn."  
  
Dawn shakes her head.  
  
Spike walks in. "Call who?"  
  
Dawn looks at him. "You look, not as dead as I thought you were."  
  
Spike picks her up, hugging her. "You are a sight for sore eyes, luv."  
  
Fred yells at him. "Not so hard, Spike! Not so hard!"  
  
Spike puts her down and looks at Fred. "Not going to hurt her, Einstein, not my Dawnnie." He smiles down at her.  
  
Dawn hugs him. "I missed you so much."  
  
Spike wipes at his tearing eyes. "Damn smoke ..."  
  
No one bothers to mention he isn't smoking.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
  
  
**--Two weeks later--**  
  
  
"So. How goes the avoiding Angel?"  
  
"Spike! You've got to quit sneaking up on me."  
  
"Wanna talk to you, walk with me."  
  
_Uh oh, here it comes._ "You've been awfully quiet these last couple weeks, Spike."  
  
"Yeah, guess so. I find out my girl is married, to Monkeyboy no less and you are carrying his child. Gives a bloke some time to be introspective should he want to be."  
  
Dawn looks at him, "I asked you to not call him names."  
  
"Believe me, Dawn, I'm being nice when I call him that."  
  
They walk down the hall headed toward the elevator, neither one speaking. When they see Angel walk out of an office Spike throws his arm around her shoulders in a protective manner and keeps walking. When they get to the elevator he takes her to the roof.  
  
"Ok, we're alone. What's up, Spike?"  
  
He reaches forward and touches her stomach. "What are you going to do about that?"  
  
Dawn looks at him. "What?"  
  
"Your plans, luv, what are your plans?"  
  
"I'm keeping it."  
  
Spike nods. "I figured you would."  
  
Dawn looks up at the moon. "You know it's daytime in England, another day they've been married, another night they've ..." She starts to cry.  
  
Spike pulls her into his arms, "I know, luv, I know." _Spent in bed together._  
  
A few minutes pass and Spike pulls back so he can look down at her. "I've been thinking."  
  
Dawn smiles, "Should I be afraid?"  
  
"Let's get married."  
  
Dawn's smile fades. "What?"  
  
"Do it right, give your baby a father. Angel said something about you're wanting to stay here and study with Wes so ... why not?"  
  
"Why not? God, if that's how you proposed to Buffy no wonder she said no!"  
  
"Never proposed to Buffy."  
  
"Oh." Dawn looks out over a sea of lights, a city of people. _Do the people here even stop and get to know one another?_  
  
"It was just a thought." Spike lights a cigarette.  
  
"It was a sweet one, but we both know it's quite ridiculous. And you're probably already breathing easier knowing I'm going to say no."  
  
"Well ... if I breathed." Spike laughs.  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"I'm here, ok?"  
  
Dawn holds his hand. "Thanks."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
  
  
Fred holds up a hideous blue shirt: Baby on Board. "We _have_ to get this one."  
  
Dawn groans. "Oh, Fred! Where do you find these? Is there a bin over there that says 'Ugly Shirts for Pregnant Women'?"  
  
Fred tosses a shirt over her shoulder back into the bin.  
  
"Oh, I have _got_ to know what that one says!" Dawn reaches for it.  
  
Fred tells her she really doesn't want to know.  
  
Dawn holds it up and laughs. "Milk Factory! Fred! No way would I ever wear this!"  
  
Fred smiles at her. "At least you're laughing."  
  
Dawn blushes. "I laugh."  
  
"Not lately."  
  
"So I don't have a lot to be happy about. But Spike's back and I made a new friend, so things are a little better."  
  
"Must say it's nice to have another girl around the offices."  
  
"I know. I don't have many girlfriends back home either."  
  
Fred smiles. "So you wanna get something to eat?" Before Dawn can respond, Fred holds up her hand, "Something that doesn't involve peanut butter chocolate malts in the first course."  
  
Blushing, Dawn pouts. "Not hungry then, and I can't help it! They taste sooooo good. Just wait until you're pregnant."  
  
"Oh, that's not happening anytime soon."   
  
Dawn chooses not to say anything about Fred's love life. She sees the way Knox looks at her; it's the same way Gunn does. Heck, even Wes has his heart on his sleeve when it comes to Fred. He'd die for her. The way Dawn sees it, any of them would.  
  
Dawn picks up the pile of clothes she's purchasing and takes it to the front of the store to pay for it. "Now I know you didn't put Milk Factory in this pile, right?"  
  
Fred laughs. "Now would I do that?"  
  
Dawn looks through the pile of clothes and picks up the offending shirt. "Fred!"  
  
"I was going to wrap it up and let Angel give it to you."  
  
Dawn laughs. "In that case, buy it. I can't wait to see his expression."  
  
Back at the Fred's apartment they are putting away Dawn's new clothes when Fred asks her if she's ever going to forgive Angel.  
  
"You mean for ruining my life?"  
  
"Yeah, for that."  
  
"Well ... I guess I can see why he didn't tell us, but Fred, if he had ... if he had ..."  
  
_My life would be so much better. We could be together. We could be a family. I know he loves me. It wasn't just one of those things that gets whispered in the heat of the moment. He showed me. He showed me with every hug, every kiss, everything he did. I know he loves me. And he's married to my sister!_  
  
"Come back to me, Dawn."  
  
Dawn looks up from the pair of pants that are wrinkling she's twisting them so hard. "Sorry."  
  
"Call him."   
  
Dawn rolls her eyes, "You know I can't"  
  
"You can, you just won't."  
  
"Oooh, yeah let me do that." Dawn picks up an imaginary phone. "Hey Xander, guess what? And your marriage to Buffy uhuh, that's over. Come home where you belong." Dawn looks at Fred. "Not."  
  
"Dawn, you don't know unless you call."  
  
"I'm not going through this argument again."  
  
"You love him! You're just going to let all that go? Let your baby grow up without him! What about the next time you're all gathered together? You think he's not going to look at that baby and know it's his?"  
  
"Fred, please don't do this."  
  
Fred hated to do it, but she had to. "The people here at the offices feel like my family now and you feel like the sister I never had, and Dawn, if you were my sister I would not want you to be in this much pain."  
  
"He was the one who called it off!"   
  
"And he's had plenty of time to regret it too."  
  
Angel knocks. "Talking about me?"  
  
"Yeah, we spend all our time talking about you." Dawn waves her hands about. "It's what we live for. Think Angel will wear a black shirt today?"  
  
Fred giggles.  
  
"I heard something about regret, thought maybe ..." He cuts himself short.   
  
Dawn looks at him. "I understand why you didn't tell us, Angel. But we ... I thought we were friends. You talked to me every single week and you ... it just hurt, ok?"  
  
"I wasn't the only one who left things out, now was I, Dawn?"  
  
Dawn glares at him. "You really think I should have told you about my sex life?"  
  
"No, I guess not." Angel turns to leave. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."  
  
Dawn watches him start do the hallway back to the offices. "Angel! Angel, wait." She chases him.  
  
Angel turns around.   
  
Dawn hugs him. "I love you, ok? You're a big jerk, but I love you."  
  
Angel hugs her back. "I didn't know, Dawn, if I had known..."  
  
Dawn smiles up at him, "They say hindsight is 20/20. You know, I always wondered who _they_ were, anyway. You know, the mysterious _they_? The ones that say, don't go swimming for an hour after eating, or ..."  
  
Angel starts to laugh. "I've missed you talking to me."  
  
Dawn blushes, then looks up at him. "So you get to work on that, find out who _they_ are, ok?"  
  
"For you? Anything." He hugs her again and goes back to his office.  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
  
**-One-week later-**  
  
  
Dawn is heading back to her room when she hears an argument going on in Angel's office.  
  
Angel's voice asks, "Why should I let you see her!? All you've done is make her miserable."  
  
Spike interjects, "Sod this talk, let's string him up by his balls."  
  
Dawn rolls her eyes and keeps walking. Such is life at Wolfram and Hart.  
  
She stops when she hears the third voice. "Because I love her, damn it, and I came to make it right!"  
  
_Xander?_  
  
Dawn walks in the office. _It is him ... God he's beautiful._ His back to her, and she watches his muscles tense as he argues with Spike and Angel. _Why is he here? Oh no ... I bet one of them called him!_  
  
"Xander?"  
  
Xander turns around. "Dawnnie!" He goes to her and sweeps her up. "I have to talk to you. Please?"  
  
"Who called you?" She glares at Spike and Angel.  
  
Xander puts her down. "Called me? No one ... listen, I ..."  
  
"No one called you? You just showed up out of the middle of nowhere. Shouldn't you be honeymooning somewhere?"  
  
Xander looks down. "I couldn't. We ... couldn't. Dawn, she's my friend. That's all. All those years, too much time had gone by ..."  
  
"And so you come back to me?"  
  
Angel and Spike slip out of the room unnoticed.  
  
Xander looks at her. "I'm a fool. Ok? I admit it. I made a mistake. But baby, I love you. I love you so much. I told Buffy, and we got an annulment. Please, please come back with me."  
  
"Did you sleep with her?"  
  
"No. All I've done is think how I can make this better between us. I would look at her and wonder, What the hell am I doing here?"  
  
"And ... you love me?"  
  
"Of course I do."  
  
"I'm pregnant."  
  
Xander steps back. "What?"  
  
"It's yours, you idiot."  
  
"Planning on telling me?"  
  
"You married my sister, when should I have mentioned it ... Ooh, let's toast Buffy and Xander and hey! I'm pregnant."  
  
"Will you marry me?"  
  
Dawn looks up at him with tears in her eyes. "Of course I will baby."  
  
He kisses her.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
  
Fred waits outside with Spike and Angel.  
  
"He really came?" she asks.  
  
Spike nods.  
  
Angel says, "She thought one of us called him."   
  
Fred laughs. "Because she doesn't realize how lovable she is. Doesn't know that he had to come to his senses sometime."  
  
Spike looks at her.  
  
Fred looks back at him. "No, Spike. I didn't call."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
  
They're all waiting when Dawn and Xander exit Angel's office.  
  
"We're getting married!" she announces happily. Taking Fred's hands, Dawn says, "And you are going to be my bridesmaid. Xander, this is my best girlfriend in the world - Fred."  
  
"It's nice to meet you," Xander tells her, but he only has eyes for Dawn.   
  
As the two girls hug, Fred kisses Dawn's cheek. "I told you it would all work out."  
  
Dawn smiles. "And best friends always know best, don't they?"  



End file.
